Advertising News South Africa

#BehindtheCampaign: Come to the Bright Sides with Nando's

When days are dark - sides are many. Nando's knows that when times are tough, South Africans see the bright side so the brand rewarded them for this with its Nando's Bright Sides deal.
Image supplied. Nando’s Bright Sides deal rewards South Africans during load shedding
Image supplied. Nando’s Bright Sides deal rewards South Africans during load shedding

Exclusively available on the Nando's app and website, the deal is dependent on the stage of load shedding the country is in.

How it works

When you purchase a full chicken via the Nando’s app or website, you can choose free sides depending on the stage of load shedding we are on as a country. Stage 2 load shedding gets you two free sides, Stage 3, gets you three free sides and so on.

So far in 2022, South Africans have had 1,246 hours (over 50 days) of continuous national load shedding, and Nando’s has sold 18,236 meals, of which 52% have been during stage 4, equating to four free sides per meal.

To bring the message home and get South Africans to look forward to the dark, Nando's released a hilarious piece of content giving us reasons to embrace load shedding, just like Eishmael Komanate and his family.

Aim of the campaign

Following the success of the Bright Side campaign and the load shedding extension, Nando’s has decided to keep its promotion running.

The aim of the campaign is to give South Africans some respite while the lights are out.

"South Africans have been feeling the heat from all sides in recent times, so I jumped at the opportunity to work with our client, Nando's, on the Bright Side campaign,” says Shahan Ramkissoon, Eclipse Communications’ chief strategy officer.

“Not only did it offer much-needed comic relief during these dark times, but it also helped ease the financial burden on our people,” he says.

“It's only been two months since I left television news, but I'm proud to have resurfaced with a brand I love, and trust to deliver an enjoyable meal no matter where I go,” adds Ramkissoon.

Setting an impossible task

Nando's general manager for digital marketing IMEA, Darren Hampton, unpacks the idea behind the campaign, and explained how the fast food chain had set itself an "impossible task," which was, ``to get South Africans to look forward to load shedding, so to speak".

"Being a South African brand, we go through the same emotions South Africans go through when it comes to all things that happen in the country, including load shedding. It affects us as a business, as people and as employees," he says.

"We thought about how we could be optimistic about the ongoing issue of load shedding, and be able to laugh at ourselves as well. There was a little bit of a silver lining we could have some fun with,” he adds.

TVC creative credits

  • Agency: Eclipse Communications
  • ECD: Fareez Joulay
  • Strategist: Fareez Joulay
  • Client service: Fareez Joulay, Nicci Buys, Gaye Leong
  • Creative group head: Fareez Joulay
  • Producer: Gaye Leong
  • Production: Nicci Buys
  • Director: Bevan Cullinan
  • Producers: Gaye Leong
  • Editor: Graham Smith Orchestra Blue Post Production
  • Audio: The-O @Prime Produce
  • Production company: Together Films
  • Media Company: Orchestra Blue Post Production-Geppetto's Workshop, Together Films and Eclipse Communications

About Danette Breitenbach

Danette Breitenbach is a marketing & media editor at Bizcommunity.com. Previously she freelanced in the marketing and media sector, including for Bizcommunity. She was editor and publisher of AdVantage, the publication that served the marketing, media and advertising industry in southern Africa. She has worked extensively in print media, mainly B2B. She has a Masters in Financial Journalism from Wits.
Let's do Biz